AT&T Data Plan Price Break?
Posted 05/20/2009 at 7:57am
| by Amy Keyishian
Oh, conspicuous consumption! In a matter of months, you've gone from making us look sexy, to making us look like chumps. These days, when we pull out our phones, it's less "that's right, we bad" and more "I'd ditch it, but I'm in a two-year contract."
AT&T may be hip to this particular wallet-ache. Business Week reports (via macrumors) that a price reduction may be on the horizon according to "people with knowledge of the company's thinking." The current unlimited data package is $30 per month, and AT&T is reportedly considering offering a limited data package for $20 per month.
Analysts say that if they're going to do that, they may as well offer a cheaper iPhone as well. But nobody's saying if Apple's really considering such a thing. And anyway, let's face it: with 43% of its users making more than $100K per year, this isn't the phone for penny-pinchers.
Honestly, a limited data package sounds a little hinky, and not just because the word "package" makes us snicker. Historically, we've never been able to stick to the lower plan--minutes, texts, whatever--and end up paying through the nose one month only to return to the higher plan the next. But maybe this is a new, post-bubble world in which people can learn impulse control!
At any rate, a reduced-price data package would presumably widen the market for the phone and keep it fresh past its new-toy date.